South Shore has seen a surge of interest in converting old buildings to new uses

Around the region, schools and churches have been transformed into houses and offices, retail buildings have become churches, and factories have been turned into condominiums and artists’ studios.

By Sydney Schwartz

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Sydney Schwartz

Posted Jan. 6, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 6, 2009 at 6:11 AM

By Sydney Schwartz

Posted Jan. 6, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 6, 2009 at 6:11 AM

» Social News

Before Sean Donahue moved into his apartment building on North Union Street in Rockland, it was a church. Before that, it was a school. Donahue bought the Union Street building as a two-family home in 2001, soon after it had been converted. He lives on the top floor.

Donahue’s home is one of many buildings on the South Shore that has been converted for a new purpose in recent years.

Across the region, schools and churches have been transformed into homes and offices, retail buildings have become churches, and factories have been turned into condominiums and artists’ studios.

Local towns have also undertaken historic reuse projects of former schools, libraries and town halls, many using a combination of local taxes and state grants under the Community Preservation Act.

“It’s been a pretty wide variety, over the years, in terms of adaptive reuse or recycling,” said Steve Habeeb of Habeeb and Associates Architects in Norwell, whose firm has done several of these projects. “The landscape is changing with respect to what buildings are used for.”

Architects and preservation specialists say that changing the function of an old building is often less costly and better for the environment and the community.

It is more efficient, they say, to reuse buildings than to tear them down and build new. There’s also a historical benefit to preserving community landmarks for posterity, they say.

“An older building that is a landmark, that remains in the community and continues its history, is something that’s valuable,” Habeeb said. “If we can avoid demolishing buildings and putting them in landfills and building new, that’s a benefit to the environment.”

Erin Kelly, assistant director of Preservation Massachusetts, a non-profit that promotes the preservation of historic buildings said that reusing old buildings has become more popular in recent years as a result of environmental factors, individuals’ visions, and financial incentives.

“We find historic buildings are at their best when they’re being actively reused by people,” she said.

In 1976, a federal tax reform act created tax incentives for preservation of historic buildings. The state passed a tax credit in 2003 to entice developers to rehabilitate and reuse historic commercial properties.

Kelly said interest in the state has skyrocketed since then. More than 130 property owners have applied for the tax credit for small restaurants, housing developments and arts centers.

“It’s really about community and quality of life, people really wanting to make the places where they live that much more vibrant, hanging on to the history that already exists there,” she said.

New life for old buildings

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The former Stetson Shoe building in Weymouth houses medical offices.

Canton’s Eliot Elementary School was converted into the police station in 2004.

The former Columban Fathers mansion on Adams Street in Quincy is being expanded for a Montessori school.

The E.T. Wright and American Sandpaper factories in Rockland have become offices, workshops and art studios

The former Jefferson School in Weymouth was converted into offices for public agencies and a day care center.

Stetson Hall in Randolph during renovations last year for town and civic meetings, arts and cultural activities and functions.

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The former Codman Building in Rockland, which formerly housed more than 100 artist studios, is being turned into the Residence at Emerson Shoe luxury housing.

GAR Hall in Marshfield, home of the North River Arts Society, has served as a church, a paint and wheelwright shop, a theater and a meeting place.

The Seth Ventress Building in Marshfield, which is now being renovated, has served as a high school, library, town hall, police station and school offices.

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A Boxford development company is converting the former Fulton School in South Weymouth into elderly housing.

Donahue’s home was built as the Gleason School on Church Street in 1865.

It was moved to Union Street in 1914, where it became the neighborhood school. It was later used as a Knights of Columbus hall, he thinks, and a bra factory. It was the South Shore Assembly of God church until 2000.

He continues to find evidence of the past. When he removed carpet to install a hardwood floor, he found a tile floor within an inlaid shuffle ball court. In a basement, where there were bible study rooms, he found a jar full of old pennies with a prayer card in it.

“You have some anomalies that occur every now and then that, of course, enhance the old church and school story,” he said. “It’s a mix of the old and the new.”